Tempe boy, 17, dies from injuries suffered in sledding accident

A 17-year-old Tempe boy died Monday from injuries he suffered during a sledding accident near Flagstaff, officials said.

Jake McGradyand another person weresledding about noon down a hill in an area off Interstate 17 near the Mountainaire neighborhood about 10 miles south of Flagstaff, near Forest Service Road 707, when the pair lost control of the sled and slammed into a tree, Coconino County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Gerry Blair said.

McGrady, who was in front, took the brunt of the impact and suffered “multiple and serious external and internal injuries consistent with blunt force trauma.”

He was taken by ambulance to Flagstaff Medical Center where he underwent surgery, but he was pronounced dead later that afternoon, Blair said. The other person on the sled bit his tongue as a result of the impact. There were no other injures.

McGrady had gone to Flagstaff Sunday with 11 of his high school classmates and two of the teens’ mothers, and the group had spent the night at a local motel, Blair said. They went to the Mountainaire area Monday where they played in the snow on a hill that appeared to be used frequently by people for playing and sledding. McGrady’s mother was not on the trip.

Tempe Union High School District spokeswoman Linda Littell said McGrady was a student at Corona del Sol High School. The school was informed of his death Tuesday.

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